


Feverish

by RubenCondrai



Series: Mom Percy on the Case [1]
Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21749437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubenCondrai/pseuds/RubenCondrai
Summary: Molly not only gets help with homework.
Relationships: Percival "Percy" King & Molly Blyndeff
Series: Mom Percy on the Case [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583167
Comments: 27
Kudos: 247





	Feverish

**Author's Note:**

> Thank so much to my friend hallowed-vessels for fixing my mistakes!! And with the title sjajsja

The winter weather was finally getting to her.

This morning Molly woke up with a pressure in her head, a dry throat and chills but simply ignored it and moved on with her day. Now it turned into a full on headache and she stood outside of her school, sipping tea out of a thermos bottle and watching the snow fall with tired eyes. She slowly rocked from one foot to the other in an attempt to warm up. Her hoodie did little to protect her and cold air began seeping into her boots half an hour ago. Why didn't she dress up warmer?

Molly looked down at her phone and then at the empty street. 

"Daaad… you said you would pick me up," she sighed to no one, put her thermos bottle in her bag and shoved her hands into her pockets. Her father forgot about her. Again.

She began walking towards the nearest bus stop. Down the street she saw it already stood there, picking up the last few children and Molly broke into a sprint. She slipped on a patch of ice and landed in the snow with her hands outstretched. It slipped up her sleeves and her skin burned from the cold.

A pained groan escaped her and she watched the bus drive off. She sniffed, wiping her running nose with her arm.

Guess she had to walk home. Or wait an hour for the next bus….

Her phone buzzed and she fished it out of her pocket, quickly reading the message from her dad.

We're out of the marshmallow cereal :(( can you grab some on the way home??

Molly pressed her lips together and left him on read. Her hands still burned when she stood up and brushed the snow off her hoodie.

Whatever. She was already behind schedule anyway, so she took a detour to the mall.

The mall was decked from head to toe in Christmas decorations and lights, and she rubbed her eyes. Maybe a migraine?

Her mind wandered to the soon to come customer rush in her toy store. It was kinda impressive how parents would procrastinate Christmas shopping until they're desperate enough to drive to a random store at 2 am. Good money. Not fun to work with.

Her plan was grabbing the cereal and be done with it but then she thought about how she would have to go grocery shopping soon anyway and decided to go back to grab a basket from the entrance. Then she crashed into someone's cart.

"Oh, dear! Please proceed with caution, Molly," a woman said.

“Mhm,” she grimaced, rubbing her forehead and through blurry eyes she recognized Percy. "I'm sorry, officer."

“It's alright. Are you injured?” Percy knelt down in front of her and cupped her face, scanning over it quickly. She winced. “You look exhausted, didn't you sleep well last night?”

Molly froze on the spot and stammered. “Uh, well. I- Not really? I caught up on homework.”

"You shouldn't skip sleep just for school."

"Yeah, I know. One time thing, I swear,” Molly shrugged and smiled awkwardly. “What are you up to, Percy? Oh, you don't have your sword.”

“I'm off duty, Molly. I don't always carry a weapon around with me,” she said and patted the place where her sword would be. "Although I wish I could."

Percy stepped behind her cart again and pushed it aside to make room for the other customers in the store. Molly took that moment to grab the cereal box she came for and turned away but Percy stopped her.

“Do you need assistance with your homework? I would gladly invite you over to my place and help you.”

“Right now?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Once I'm done with grocery shopping, yes.”

Molly stared at her boots, biting her lip. She really did need help with math after she accidentally fell asleep in class. Her teacher was mad and wouldn't explain it again. The last night she spent hours trying to wrap her head around it and looking up explanations online only furthered her confusion.

"That would be nice, Percy. Are you good at math?"

* * *

"Please, step in."

Percy opened the door to her apartment and nudged Molly inside. She took off her bear hoodie and boots while Percy set her shopping bags down in the kitchen and sorted the food into the fridge and cupboards. Molly only ended up buying the cereal box which she dropped on the table together with her school bag.

"Do you want something to drink?” Percy asked.

Molly nodded and sat down at the table. She grabbed her math book and papers together with a pencil and neatly laid them out. Percy grabbed two glasses of water and sat down next to her. They worked on the homework for an hour. All that time Molly sniffled or sneezed and in the end she used up two packs of tissues. 

"Can you open a window? It's warm,” Molly leaned back in the chair.

Percy looked at the child's flushed face and pressed her hand against her forehead. "You are quite warm."

She stood up, tilted one of the kitchen windows and left the room. Molly sipped on her glass and coughed. Her throat burned every time she drank the cool water and the headache hasn't lessened yet.

Percy came back and handed her a thermometer. "Put this under your armpit." 

"What? I thought we're doing my homework, not playing doctor," she frowned but Percy looked at her sternly and Molly followed the command.

Molly shrunk into her seat. It was weird, having someone caring about her. Usually she just rode the sickness out unless her teachers send her home. Then she would relax until the night shift.

“I don't want to work again,” she murmured, tears in her eyes.

"You can put the homework aside then," Percy took the thermometer back. “You have a bad fever. If you'd like, you can take a nap in my room?"

“If it isn't a bother….” Molly yawned and was led into Percy’s bedroom, where the child slipped under the blanket and fell asleep before even realizing it.

She awoke a few hours later, stretched out with the blanket kicked half off the bed and sighed. A small smile crept on her face. Her headache lessened in the quiet and dark room, the only light came from the moon outside the window.

Wait. Moon? How late was it?

She noticed an alarm clock next to the bed. It was almost 8 pm already.

Molly immediately crawled out of bed and walked back into the kitchen. She squinted against the light, blinking rapidly. Her school work laid on the table the same as before. Percy was sorting a few files, keeping an eye on a pot cooking on the stove. It smelled like chicken soup. Molly’s stomach growled.

“Oh, I was just about to wake you,” Percy looked up from the papers. “Food is ready soon. I should have made you dinner earlier. I apologize.”

“No, no…” Molly’s voice cracked. “I should really go home now.”

“Yes, after you eat something. You've been sleeping all afternoon.”

She opened her mouth to argue but was interrupted by her stomach again and sat down. Percy stacked her papers and put them aside. Then she grabbed her a bowl of the soup.

“Do you know your father's phone number out of memory? I'd like to call him so he can pick you up,” Percy sat down opposite of her with a bowl on her own.

“I have it on my phone? But I can just walk home.”

"It would be irresponsible of me to let a child walk home alone while they're sick and it's dark outside. Please, lend me your phone?”

It's not like he will answer, Molly wanted to say but that surely would cause some alarm signals to go off in a cops head, right? On the other hand, Percy did believe her horrible acting back when she played hostage, so maybe she could come up with a lie.

“It's in the pocket of my bear hoodie,” she muttered and shoved a spoon of soup into her mouth.

Percy nodded and left the kitchen. Molly went through several excuses in her head for her father while Percy waited in the hallway for him to pick up. After five minutes of silence, she was done with the soup and walked up to her. She still tried reaching her father.

“Hmm,” Percy pressed her hand against Molly's forehead again. “Your fever is still high.”

“Can’t you drive me home?”

“I don't have a private car and the police car is at the station.”

“Oh,” her eyes fell shut for a second too long.

Percy brushed a lock out of Molly's face and smiled softly. “How about you lay down for a bit more? If your father doesn't answer before 9 PM, I'll call a taxi for you.”

“Okay….”

Molly disappeared in the bedroom and Percy began pacing, dialing up the father's number again. It rang and rang and after five more failed calls she gave up.

She peeked into her bedroom. Molly was asleep. Percy paced up and down in her kitchen and thought for a long while.

Irresponsible. That's what she thought about Molly's father. What if Molly had something urgent? Like the museum situation? Her father hasn't answered their calls back then either. He... probably hasn't even noticed Molly was missing from home, did he? There was no report about a missing child coming in that day. And today, now when it's so late again, not even a message asking where she was.

Percy took a deep breath. In and out, trying to calm herself. It was 9 pm. She called one last time.

He didn't pick up.

She stared at the phone and then finally send him a simple message.

_I'm sleeping at a friend's place._

Percy immediately felt bad for lying but she wanted Molly to stay with her tonight. Well taken care of.

Perhaps she should investigate Molly’s home life?


End file.
